Mat Sosa

This movie didn’t need to be made. The best part was the ending, which could’ve EASILY been added to the season finale of the show. Most of this movie’s passion went into Aethlstan’s sex scene…everything else was too “mainstream” to be detailed. As “The Last Kingdom” fans, we LOVE the actors because they preformed so well, in the TV show…but make no mistake: our beloved characters are done a huge disservice, due to a plot line that is rushed and uncared for. The characters have become watered-down versions of themselves, with quirky catchphrases to remind us of who they’re supposed to be, (basically McDonald’s Happy Meal toys)…and the most “exciting” parts of the movie are just as insignificant as any sub-plot, in the show. Aethlstan, (the main character of this movie), is a heavily generalized copy of King Alfred and King Edward - despite ALL of his development. Halfway into the movie - i kid you not - the most intriguing aspect was Uthred’s white, fur cloak…which he only wore for one scene. IN CONCLUSION, the show already had a respectable ending. Don’t get your hopes up. The last few minutes of the movie was poetic, but the rest of the film is NOT an ending to the show; it is a drawn-out extension…which leads me to my SPOILER review: The only parts that we TRULY needed to see, as fans, was the new king and what happens to Uthred - both things that were done with haste, in this movie. I enjoyed the concept that Aethlstan’s advisor was a Dane who was raised as a Saxon, but who was really a Dane all along who was abusing Aethlstan’s faith to deceive him…but, that’s just about where the movie exerted all of its effort. Let me summarize this movie with 1 sentence: Aethlstan is ill-advised, but with the help of Uthred, he overcomes his adversity and becomes an admirable king. The show did it better, five times over.